


Language and Perspective

by exist2believe



Category: Coronation Street
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-22
Updated: 2014-06-22
Packaged: 2018-02-05 15:23:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1823254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exist2believe/pseuds/exist2believe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place sometime between April 14th and April 28th episodes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Language and Perspective

**Author's Note:**

> Title shamelessly stolen from Bad Suns' debut album, very soon to be released. [ Check it out.](https://soundcloud.com/badsuns/sets/language-perspective) One of their songs also makes a cameo, so there's that.
> 
> Most MASSIVE thanks to the most lovely [lazarus_girl](http://archiveofourown.org/users/lazarus_girl) for a hasty beta and all the encouragement to not only write this - my first fanfic ever - but to post it as well. Go show her some love, y'all!
> 
> This piece was born of an unexpected, fierce love of Maddie Heath and my disappointment over the distinct lack of couple-y interaction between her and Sophie. Make no mistake however, it's still (hopefully) written as if it could be part of an episode of Corrie; ergo, no smut. Sorry.

“So, I got a call from Eleanor today.”

“Yeah?” Maddie glances over at Sophie as they walk side by side along the cobbles. If Sophie being nearly completely wrapped around Maddie's dangling left arm can be described as side by side.

The pair were heading to Roy's Rolls during Sophie's break, but Sophie left her coat at Dev's shop because “it's just a quick walk 'round the corner” despite Maddie's warnings about the coolness of the weather.

“Yeah. She's going out of town or summat. Wanted to know if I could volunteer for a couple days while she's gone.” The statement ends with a small shiver from the brunette.

Attempting a disinterested tone, Maddie very well knows the answer before she even asks, “And what did you say?”

“Well, she asked me, didn't she?” Sophie responds matter-of-factly, just like Maddie anticipated.

“Doesn't mean you automatically have to say yes.” She knows it's a moot point, knows that Sophie's going to help anyone who asks her – even someone who didn't or wouldn't ask.

(And Maddie's aware of herself being the most obvious case in point.)

“Not like I'm too busy to help out. It's only two days. Not a big deal,” Sophie finishes.

It used to throw Maddie for a loop, how someone could be so nonchalant about giving time and assistance, not caring about getting anything back for their effort.

When they first met, she was so sure “Saint Sophie” had to be an act; that the other shoe would drop and Sophie would turn out to be just like all the other holiday homeless helpers once the New Year's resolution to be a better person lost its novelty.

She waited for Sophie to leave her behind, forget her, prove her right – anything except end up clutching her arm on a breezy afternoon for a quick lunch date.

Shaking her head, both at the unexpectedness of her current situation and to clear out any thoughts that inevitably lead to deeper introspection on her relationship with Sophie, Maddie decides to get back to the conversation at hand. “When?”

“Figured I could go when you're visiting Ben. I have the morning shift at the shop that day, so I'm out early, and I'm off the next.”

“Working on your free time. You really are bonkers.” Maddie pushes the door to the cafe, moving aside to let Sophie enter while she holds it open. “All I've got to say is you better not come back with another girlfriend. Think you've got enough trouble already, eh?”

 

* * *

 

> _“My innards turn, your eyes, they roll_   
>  _I’ll be there to take the fall_   
>  _I can feel it now, oh no, oh no_   
>  _Same old story since day one, but I’ve got no place to run_   
>  _I can see it now, oh no, oh no.”_

The kitchen closed nearly an hour ago, and most of the volunteers left after the dishes were washed. Sophie and another girl – Ruth, she remembers – stuck around to sweep and mop the canteen. Their polite chatting dwindled pretty quick and they ended up switching on the radio to stave off complete silence.

“It's okay, I'll lock up.” Sophie offers, gesturing with the damp rag in her hand. “Almost done anyway.”

As she's nearly finished wiping down the last table, Sophie hears soft footsteps over the muffled and static-y drone of the radio.

“Strange. Being back in here.”

Sophie turns around to face the source of the voice, “Forget your humble roots already?”

In the doorway, Maddie leans against the frame with her hands in her hoodie pockets, “Ha, ha. No, I mean it's strange being here... with you. Again. Feels like ages since the last time we were here,” she remarks.

“You maybe. I was in here yesterday.”

“Come on, you know what I mean.”

Sophie takes a brief look around the room, then focuses her gaze back on Maddie. “Yeah, I get it.”

An unspoken moment of understanding passes between the pair; how far they've come since that Christmas Day, but their mutual reminiscing is broken by the top 40 radio DJ mistakenly cuing an advert break right in middle of a song before cutting back to it.

Moving along the makeshift aisles, Maddie runs her fingers across the back of the plastic chairs, “So...”

“So...?” Sophie absentmindedly replies as she starts to walk over to the other girl. As she does, Maddie sits on the end of a freshly wiped, but now dry table.

Sophie is still a few feet away from her, and Maddie waits until she has Sophie's full attention. Once she does, she smirks and gives Sophie an exaggerated once over.

Puzzled, Sophie looks down at her apron. “What? Do I look a mess?”

“Not yet.”

“Eh?” Sophie's head snaps up to look at Maddie, who is still smirking, but shifts into a full-on smile when confronted with the older girl's confused look. As an answer, Maddie leans back on her elbows and tosses a quick, but obvious glance over her shoulder at the table surface behind her.

It's clear when Sophie finally gets what Maddie is suggesting, the furious blush that colours her face radiates equal parts scandal and excitement. “Wha – no. No way!”

Maddie rolls her eyes, pretending to be offended, but all the while being completely amused by Sophie's flustered attempts at rebuffing the idea.

Half-formed refusals tumble from Sophie's mouth - “Someone could walk in”, “What if there are cameras 'round”, “Such a bad idea” - but never does she say that she doesn't want to.

Truthfully, there hadn't really been any opportunity for romance since their return to Weatherfield. Kevin may have allowed Maddie to move into his house, but Sophie was still very much his baby girl. Sophie also suspects that her dad was being a bit more stern than usual to prove a point to her mom (and Tim).

Although she enjoyed having a roof over her head, Sophie conceded she'd also like some one-on-one time with her girlfriend, but sex on a wobbly soup kitchen table heavy with the scent of off-brand disinfectant wasn't exactly what she had in mind.

“And I just cleaned that table, so get off.” Sophie reaches a hand out to tug Maddie off the table, but ends up being pulled forward by the younger girl instead.

After a bit of a stumble, Sophie finds herself leaning against the edge of the table between dangling legs, looking down at a rather smug expression. “That's what I'm trying to do, Soph.” Maddie cranes her neck to bring her lips close to Sophie's ear, “Give us a hand, will you?”

Sophie uses the damp rag in her possession to lightly swat away wandering hands, but Maddie playfully keeps at it, the pair of them steadily breaking into laughter. After a short while, Sophie drops the rag on the table and links her hands with Maddie's; the couple enjoying the semi-casual privacy.

“As much as I appreciate the offer, I'm not entirely sure these tables are sturdy enough to hold us both.” Sophie jokes.

“Oh, I dunno,” Maddie starts, testing her weight against the table slightly. “Might be alright for starters. We could always move to the kitchen counter. The floor, if we've no other choice.”

Chuckling at the practical tone, “Sounds like you've thought about this before.”

Expecting a cheeky response, Sophie's taken aback when Maddie not only doesn't say anything, but avoids eye contact as well.

“Are – are you _blushing_?”

“No!” This time, the response is quick. Too quick.

Sophie moves her head to try and catch Maddie's gaze. “You have thought about it, haven't ya?” She doesn't mean to sound so amused, she's genuinely thrown off, but Maddie roughly pulls her hands back from Sophie's anyway.

Sophie can practically see Maddie start to build up her emotional walls, her expression changing back to that same tough girl act she used to wear when they had first met.

Feeling appropriately chastised, Sophie desperately tries to backpedal. “Wait, wait, I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to make fun of you, Maddie, honestly. I was just...” Now she's wishing someone would walk in on them, seeing as her ability to explain herself decreases the longer Maddie glares at her expectantly.

“I didn't think, I mean, I've never thought about you like that.” With that, Maddie hops off the table and Sophie reaches out, grasping her arm, to try and keep her close. “Wait! No! That's not what I meant, I don't think about you thinking about me like that.”

Crossing her arms, Maddie doesn't move away, but she does turn to square up Sophie. “Why not?”

Maddie's wound up and Sophie knows she needs to tread gently. Though she's handled Sophie's rejection before, the younger girl's pride is all on the line now, so Sophie takes a breath and gathers her thoughts as coherently as she can.

“If you've thought about that, about us... here.” Sophie explains, “Like you said, we haven't been to the kitchen in ages, so you must've thought about it before we was even together.”

There's the eye roll that Sophie's amazed took this long to be directed her way, accompanied with a terse, “So?”

The two girls spend a little while peering at each other – one trying to communicate, the other running out of patience – but it ends with Sophie shrugging almost helplessly in reply.

Finally, Maddie scoffs. “Don't act so surprised, Soph.”

Seeing the defensiveness in Maddie's stance soften a little, as well as hearing the diminutive of her name, Sophie is grateful that Maddie seems to have figured out what she was very poorly attempting to convey. “Not like I didn't tell you you were well pretty.”

Smiling softly, Sophie remembers. “I didn't think you really meant it. I thought you were just taking the mick.”

“Well, I did say it to rattle you, yeah, but it was true, too.” A pause. “Is true.” Now it's Maddie's turn to awkwardly shrug.

This is the most Maddie's ever spoken about her feelings and Sophie keeps pushing, coaxing a little more out of her normally closed-off girlfriend. “So you liked me the whole time? Even when you kept having a go at me?” Sophie reaches out as she asks, her hand lightly grasping Maddie's elbow, and the younger girl obliges by dropping her crossed arms.

“What, are you fishing for compliments?” It's not said with any venom, but rather with Maddie Heath's trademark sarcasm and false exasperation.

Stepping forward to slide her hands up to rest on Maddie's shoulders, Sophie shakes her head 'no' and grins in response. “I think you made yourself clear, with the table sex and all.”

Maddie, now smiling, nudges her forehead against Sophie's shoulder – quickly becoming her go-to sign of affection for the girl – and quietly mutters a sheepish, “Shut up.”

Brushing her lips against Maddie's still slightly blushing cheek, Sophie delivers a challenge, “Well, come on Mads, what did you have in mind?”

Not willing to back down from such an enticing offer, Maddie slowly moves in to kiss Sophie's taunting lips. She watches as the brunette shuts her eyes in anticipation before closing the distance between them.

The kiss is soft and languid. There's no Sally, no Kevin, no Tim even to suddenly burst in with an abrupt need for something or other to keep the two of them from having any time alone, so they don't rush.

It's not until Sophie brings her hand up to cup Maddie's face that the kiss deepens and Maddie presses even closer in response.

Sophie pulls away first, tucking a stray bit of hair that had managed to come free from Maddie's ever-present ponytail back behind her ear and taking notice of the self-satisfied expression on the younger girl's face.

Giving in to her curiosity, Sophie sighs. “Right, what's got you looking so smug?”

“Nothing,” Maddie quips with a look of complete mischievousness. “But... that _was_ even better than the snooker table makeout session I'd imagined.”

“Maddie!” shrieks Sophie, bashful but beaming, as Maddie's uninhibited laughter echoes through the empty building over the sound of the forgotten radio.

> _"I’ll try my best, how much do I invest?_   
>  _Like cardiac arrest, high voltage in her lips_   
>  _I’ll try my best, how much do I invest?_   
>  _Like cardiac arrest, high voltage when we kiss."_


End file.
